- Title: WEST BANK: Funeral held for Palestinian killed in Friday's anti-barrier demo
- Date: 7th June 2009
- Summary: NILIN, WEST BANK (JUNE 6, 2009) (REUTERS) PEOPLE MARCHING IN FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR PALESTINIAN WHO WAS SHOT BY ISRAELI ARMY DURING AN ANTI-BARRIER DEMONSTRATION ON FRIDAY PALESTINIAN FLAG WIDE OF PROCESSION ISRAELI SOLDIERS WATCHING FUNERAL PROCESSION FUNERAL PROCESSION SEEN THROUGH BARBED WIRE MEN CARRYING BODY CLOSE OF BODY WIDE OF WOMEN WATCHING PROCESSION CLOSE OF WOMEN WIDE OF FUNERAL PROCESSION MARCHING AWAY NEAR SUSSYIA OUTPOST, WEST BANK (JUNE 6, 2009) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI PEACE ACTIVISTS WALKING ACTIVISTS BEGINNING TO ERECT 'OBAMA 2' OUTPOST IN PROTEST AGAINST ISRAEL NOT EVICTING ILLEGAL JEWISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE AREA PALESTINIAN FLAG MORE OF ACTIVISTS BUILDING OUTPOST ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES WALKING TOWARDS ACTIVISTS SECURITY FORCES SCUFFLING WITH ACTIVIST SECURITY FORCES TEARING DOWN 'OBAMA 2' OUTPOST ACTIVIST SHOUTING AT SECURITY FORCES SECURITY FORCES BEATING ACTIVIST (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ACTIVIST OFRA PINHAS, SAYING: "We were joined by about 150-200 Israelis and Palestinians for an organised activity here in Sussiya, following the building of this outpost (the illegal Jewish outpost of Sussiya) which has been here for a few months, in the process of being built. This outpost is an example of the way in which the settlers take over the land not only here in the southern Hebron mount region, but all together in the occupied territories." SECURITY FORCES REMOVING 'OBAMA 2' SUPPORTS ACTIVIST CLAPPING AND MAKING RUDE GESTURES AT SECURITY FORCES WIDE OF ACTIVISTS FACING SECURITY FORCES
- Embargoed: 22nd June 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Reuters ID: LVACTMUD0Y6FDO3CV92DKPTG4UV1
- Story Text: Scores of Palestinians marched on Saturday (June 6) in a funeral procession for a man shot dead by Israeli troops in a confrontation with stone-throwing protesters in the West Bank.
The violence took place on Friday (June 5) as U.S. President Barak Obama, during a visit to Germany, urged that both Israel and the Palestinians "get serious" and take "difficult steps," in his latest call to resume the peace talks that stalled months ago.
Medics said Aqel Srour, 35, was hit in the chest by a live bullet and another protester was wounded when soldiers fired at protesters in Nilin, a village near the city of Ramallah.
Srour died minutes later, Mohammed Shahwan, a doctor on the ambulance called to the scene, told Reuters. Witnesses said he had been shot in the chest.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed a protester had died of injuries and said Israel was investigating the incident.
Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, said border police and soldiers had been authorised to open fire on protesters, said to have numbered about 200, when the troops faced a life-threatening situation due to stone-throwing.
For close to a year, Nilin has been the scene of weekly protests against the continuing construction of an Israeli barrier that has cut through village farmland. These confrontations are often violent though generally troops avoid the use of lethal fire.
Israel says the barrier it has built along its boundary with the West Bank, territory it captured in a 1967 war, is needed to keep bombers from infiltrating its towns.
At another protest Israeli soldiers scuffled with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists near the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday (June 6).
The activists were demonstrating against illegal Jewish outposts across the occupied West Bank.
An attempt to erect their own outpost named 'Obama 2' near the illegal Jewish outpost of Sussiya was foiled by Israeli security forces, who tore the makeshift construction down.
Ofra Pinhas, one of the activists told Reuters Television that close to 200 Israelis and Palestinians gathered to show their objection to the ongoing building of illegal Jewish outposts.
"(Sussiya) outpost is an example of the way in which the settlers take over the land not only here in the southern Hebron mount region, but all together in the occupied territories," Pinhas said.
An Israeli army spokesperson said the area was declared a closed military zone in an effort to prevent violent incidents between some 150 activists and Jewish settlers.
About 300,000 Jews live in settlements built by Israel in the occupied West Bank land captured during the war. Settlement expansion has seriously obstructed U.S.-sponsored peace talks. The Palestinians say they cannot achieve a viable, contiguous state of their own alongside Israel if the territory they secure is riddled with Jewish settlements and outposts. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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